Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by talking about just how this code of conduct is developed, why and what happens to it.
Currently the code of conduct is developed in the same manner as it has been, but it is approved by the House of Commons. The ethics counsellor tables his report with the Registrar General. The Registrar General who receives this report is currently the Minister of Public Works and Government Services.
I have some problem with the ethics of that in itself because of a lot of the dealings I have had in this House with the particular minister who receives that report. I dealt with an issue just yesterday in question period with that minister. I question very much the avenues that were taken to disburse federal funds through a provincial road program. Even a member opposite called the disbursement of those funds misappropriation. I have a real concern with these kinds of reports going directly to a minister rather than to the House. After all it is the House of Commons that has to deal with the ethics, is it not, and not the Prime Minister or not a minister?
I want to raise another issue and that is an individual who is a member but is not a minister who I have long said should come under the auspices of an investigation by the ethics counsellor. Again I question. If you cannot be entirely ethical as a party or a minister how in the name of heaven does one get to receive reports from an ethnics counsellor and deal with them?
It is just not the right way to do it. All members of this House have the right to receive the reports directly. They have the right to make the appointments. They have the right to set the standards. I cannot comprehend why this government, after all the talk about ethics during the election, has turned around to table something which says that the appointments should be made by the Prime Minister and the report should be given to a minister. It is hogwash.
Why is it that the Liberals do not want the ethics counsellor to report to the House of Commons? What is wrong that we cannot understand that it should come to the members? If we can understand the longstanding traditions of a traditional party, the difficulty it has is that it does not trust itself or its own members.
It does not want to be put into a position of being embarrassed down the road.
I would like to say one more thing about the minister with whom I was dealing yesterday. I found out that there is a federal-provincial agreement on roads in Nova Scotia. I found out that the minister and the Minister of Transport deliberately made a deal to transfer moneys from a federal highway program to a provincial highway program. They made a deal on it.
Why did they make the deal? It happens that the money they wanted to take from the federal program is going to the minister's riding. The federal road they had the money for is considered one of the most dangerous roads in this country. The road the minister had the money transferred to in his own riding happens to be a road for tourists. It is a make work program. I have a great deal of difficulty understanding the ethics of that manoeuvre. So do the people of Wentworth Valley in Nova Scotia.
How on earth can I comprehend this government taking the very same reports from an ethics commissioner and giving it to the very same minister who made the transfer? Talk about ethics.
What happens if an ethics counsellor or an ethics commissioner in this person's government makes a report which chastises somebody from the government? The Prime Minister takes that report and downplays it. We in the House probably will not even get the report. The public will never see the report. On it goes. If he makes the mistake of divulging what is in the report, he gets canned. That is why this counsellor must report to the House of Commons and not the Prime Minister.
We can look back at all of the processes we have gone through on ethics in this House. For instance, there is the ethics having to do with patronage appointments. Time and time again the government talks about ethics and patronage appointments. What does it do day after day? It gives all its hacks, everyone it can, patronage jobs. The Liberal I defeated in my riding just got his plum. That is ethics over there.